Salesforce is a CRM platform that is highly customizable. It allows developers and administrators to tailor the functionalities of the platform according to the specific needs and preferences of the users. Being an inherently cloud-based platform, it is relatively easier for the platform to be customized to tailor its features for different organizations. This is what has made the CRM platform preferred by a range of organizations across the world.

Salesforce testing plays an important role in Salesforce development and implementation. If you are willing to hire dedicated Salesforce developers to implement the CRM platform for your organization, it is important to be well-versed in the process of Salesforce testing. This would help you understand the process better and provide precise instructions to your developers regarding the tools and features you are willing to add to the CRM platform.

What Is Salesforce Testing?

In simple words, Salesforce testing is the process of testing the configuration and customization undertaken in your Salesforce org. As Salesforce is highly customizable, developers need to test the changes made to the platform in order to ensure that they are in sync with the client’s needs and do not contain unwanted errors.

The job of a Salesforce tester is to check the code that has been customized instead of the in-built Salesforce functionality. The testing process only applied to the customized code to make changes to the CRM platform.

Salesforce is developed on a development language called APEX. APEX provides developers with built-in unit test cases for testing their own code. According to the standard rule of Salesforce, it is important for a developer to achieve a success rate of 75% for the testing to be successful. However, every Salesforce developer always aims to achieve a 100% success rate while working on testing a Salesforce org.

The Process Of Salesforce Testing

The process of Salesforce is more or less the same as the process of testing any normal web-based application. However, it is important for a Salesforce tester to have a clear perspective of the Salesforce features that are customizable. These features are built to ensure that during the process of testing, the tester can clearly focus only on those features as opposed to the in-built ones.

Salesforce testing requires testers to work on Salesforce sandbox. This is a production-like environment that contains a copy of the records pertaining to the production environment. Salesforce sandboxes allow developers and testers to work on them without affecting the data stored within the production environment.

When the code is deployed in a sandbox environment, it is approved to be released and moved to the production environment. Before the tester proceeds with the process of Salesforce testing, they need to make sure that the records stored within the production environment are not affected and the deployment is undertaken smoothly.

Major Features Of Salesforce Testing

Here are some of the major features of Salesforce testing:

• Testers can enforce automation testing on a Salesforce org with the help of tools like Selenium and HP Unified Functional Testing (UFT)
• Salesforce testing process should include processes like UI testing, integration testing, functional testing, system testing, regression testing, and system integration testing
• While undertaking UI testing, it is important for a tester as most web pages on the Salesforce platform are Visualforce pages. Owing to the dynamic features of Visualforce pages, testers need to pay special attention to them. This is because all elements of a webpage may not be loaded in a single go
• It is important for testers to create functional flows, including positive and negative flows for covering the whole functionality of an application
• It is important for testers to document the test cases with the help of a test management tool
• Testers should construct and test workflows using a variety of user roles
• While testing, the test data should be prepared to validate the reports in a functional manner

Why Should You Undertake Salesforce Testing?

Here are some of the major reasons why Salesforce testing should be carried out:

• Checking if the configuration and code are functional
• Verifying that the finished system is capable of supporting the organization’s business processes
• Identifying potential threats and fixing them
• Checking the functionality of time-based events
• Confirming that the system’s initial build meets the initial requirements
• Checking the working condition and the behavior of the system

What Are The Roles And Responsibilities Of A Salesforce Tester?

A Salesforce tester plays an important role in the development and integration of a Salesforce org. They are often referred to as Quality Engineers as Salesforce testing requires the testers to build complicated test frameworks. They also need to understand the functionality of the Salesforce application and the ability to work in coordination with developers and other stakeholders.

Here are some of the major roles and responsibilities of a Salesforce tester:

• Effectively communicating with the development team for understanding the customizable features of Salesforce
• Coordinating with the clients when they need to understand complicated aspects pertaining to Salesforce development and testing
• Ensuring that the code coverage does not fall below 75% according to the standard business rule
• Conducting role-based testing to make sure that data is consistent with multiple user roles
• Performing compatibility testing of third-party applications that are integrated with the concerned Salesforce org (if any)
• Being well-versed with the load testing tools to be used in the Salesforce testing process
• Being well-versed with multiple application flows

Exploratory Salesforce Testing – Features And Best Practices

Here are some of the features and best practices that are undertaken in the case of exploratory Salesforce testing:

• The testing involves validating the consistency of Salesforce across multiple screens
• The UI testing should involve documented test cases according to the required test document
• The testing needs to involve user input validation on the form fields
• The testing process should involve negative test flows such as deleting the default data generated and validating the behavior of the concerned application
• The tester should perform cross-browser compatibility testing to make sure that the data is rendered correctly across multiple browsers
• The testing should involve error message validation whenever invalid data is passed to the concerned application
• The testing should involve maximum length validation for every editable input field along with the invalid data validation
• The tester should perform amount field validation on baking applications using the Boundary Value Analysis technique along with proper diligence
• The tester should pay special attention to reports and dashboard testing to test multiple data parameters
• The testing should involve the entire application flow with individual functional flows
• The tester can test multiple permutations and combinations of functional flows for positive and negative Salesforce testing
• The tester should perform API testing for integrated third-party applications

What Is Salesforce Test Automation?

Salesforce test automation is a challenging testing process as the majority of web pages on the Salesforce Platform are dynamic in nature. This is why Salesforce needs automation testers to build powerful automation frameworks that can be sustained in the future. Moreover, there can be frequent updates regarding the applications as they are essentially cloud-based applications.

Here are some of the tools that can be used for achieving Salesforce test automation:

• Provar
• Selenium web driver
• HP Unified Functional Testing (UFT)
• Test frameworks like Cucumber

What Is Salesforce Load Testing?

Salesforce load testing is the testing process that involves testing the behavior of an application under different loads. It is important to remember that Salesforce is a highly scalable platform that is built for handling a large number of users effectively. For performance bottlenecks, the platform of Salesforce.com is tested thoroughly by platform developers themselves.

Nevertheless, it becomes important to undertake Salesforce load testing when a newly introduced piece of code starts yielding performance bottlenecks that need to be addressed. Testers can perform Salesforce testing with the help of performance testing tools such as Apache JMeter and HP LoadRunner.

Here are some of the most important Salesforce load testing strategies that can be implemented by testers in order to obtain the best results:

• Validating the application’s behavior under maximum users is always preferred.
• Testers should identify all the important business processes and test scripts that need to be prepared.
• Testers should undertake load testing in the sandbox environment instead of the production environment to keep the production data secure.
• Testers should execute test scripts and derive key metrics like Transactions per Second (TPS) and Response Time.
• Testers should thoroughly assess the application for performance bottlenecks after all the metrics are collected.
• In case there are multiple teams working within the same Salesforce environment, it is important for the tester to inform other teams about the time period within which Salesforce load testing is to be carried out.

The Final Word

This is everything a beginner should know about Salesforce testing. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg! If you are willing to know more about Salesforce testing and its implications, you will need to prepare yourself for a deep dive into the nitty-gritty details about the CRM platform!